#WIPpet Wednesday: She Prefers Em

What’s WIPpet Wednesday?
Wednesday is for the day of the week I (and others) share a WIPpet. The word WIPpet is the joining of the word snippet with the acronym WIP, which stands for Work In Progress. Using the date to conjure up a math formula, WIPpeteers (the group of people that share WIPpets) figure out how much to share.

My WIPpet Math
The date is 11/4. I’m usually quite stingy with my sharing, but not today! This is the introduction of my main character for this tale, so I wanted you guys to get a good introduction, as I’ll likely be sharing this into 2016. So, 11 + 4 = 15 paragraphs

What’s My WIPpet?
This work is code named YELLOW. It is a superhero soap opera (think AVENGERS meets ONCE UPON A TIME). Her name is one of the reasons I code named this YELLOW. The other reasons… Will future WIPpets reveal them?

This Week’s WIPpetLemon Law felt the gaze of the cubical crew on the back of her head as she knocked on the door, just below her boss’s nameplate.

“Come in,” he said in a wavering voice that betrayed the fact he was expecting her.

She opened the door and saw him sitting there, behind another nameplate baring his name, Jon Malone. His slicked-back black hair caught the afternoon sunlight and his glasses reflected the same light and hid his blue eyes. His hands were clasped on his desk, his forearms exposed by rolled up sleeves and his knuckles as white as the paper beneath them.

“Come in, Em,” he said, his voice cracking once more.

Lemon, or Em as she preferred to be called, was almost certain she knew what was coming. She almost wanted to avoid the song and dance. Oh, she was sorely tempted to just say, “Got it!” And then pack up her desk and leave.

However, society had its expectations and rituals. To live as normal of a life as possible, Em went through with it.

She entered the room that still smelled of freshly painted walls and started to shut the door.

“No,” Jon lurched forward over the desk and reached a hand out to her. When she glanced at him, he started collecting himself. “I mean, leave it open a crack,” he said as he sat back in his large, leather office chair.

“Okay,” she said and let go of the un-shut door. Then she crossed the room and stood in front of his desk, looking down at him. In his shiny glasses, she could see herself. Dyed blond hair, no sign of roots, a suit twice as expensive as his in a boring brown with a crisp just off white shirt, and brown eyes that were slightly narrowed in annoyance.

“Em, the city wants us to work on a project for them,” he said with a twitching smile.

This again? Em couldn’t help from thinking. It was total déjà vu. Or, rather, it was how it always went.

“That meant we had to be vetted and you came up as a security risk.” He let out a nervous laugh. He quickly clarified, “Not that I think you are…”

“It’s about my father,” she said in a monotone that had no emotion.

“This contract… We can’t pass it up, Em. It will set us up for years,” he said, practically begging her to understand.

And she did. She just didn’t show it. Because, that would have made it easier on him. And what he was doing wasn’t fair. Before she started working for [Archetich firm name], they never would have gotten this contract. They wouldn’t have even been in the running.

Want to give it a go or read the WIPpeteers’ works?KL Schwengel runs the show.
Find the linkie on her page to read the WIPpets or join in.

That’s it Em, don’t make it easy for him! You definitely did a good job of making it unfair for her, I really do feel bad for her! It makes me wonder though, if she’s ultimately the reason they got the contract in the first place, would walking away ultimately have a detrimental effect on the company as well? (I hope so, I hate unfair people like that. :p )

I don’t know if I touch on it or not (at one point it was in the plan to, if I don’t I need to find a place to slip it in), but yeah… Companies end up failing after she leaves. The pattern has been explained a number of ways (including blaming her for sabotage).

Big hints about Em’s father: Look at “genre”/”setting” of my book. He (essentially) got her blacklisted. People are scared of her because of her being his daughter. I do hope to share more info on him soon. 🙂

You might have guessed it, but I'm still going to tell you. My name is Gloria Weber and I'm a writer. I bring my geeky loves to the tales I write. I live in Ohio with my two kids, one husband, and many pets. Squee!